The Big News from the Medical Center is we have a new medical provider; Joe Epperson PA-C. He will be starting May 10. Be watching for a complete introduction in a future Mountaineer.
The Jason DeShaw concert “Serenity in the Storm.” He is a national award-winning speaker and singer/songwriter who shares his journey with mental illness and addictions and was coming to Big Sandy on April 26, 2024. He called and canceled the event because he was so sick with the flu. However, because the food was almost prepared the Medical Center decided to go ahead and feed the community and let the Big Sandy Medical Center’s new mental health provider, Cheyenne Feltz, DNP PMHNP-BC, who is a Board Certified (BC) Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) with a Doctor of Nursing (DNP) talk and tell her own story. Ron Wiens said they spent the evening “pretty focused on the mental health of our community. Cheyenne gave a really good talk.”
The event was sponsored by Benefis, Chouteau County Health, Northern Montana Health Care, and the Big Sandy Rotary.
Ron also talked about how to have a healthy mental life. He said, “some guys my age are pretty stubborn and don’t think they need to ask for help.” He gave a short talk about the differences that he has observed, in nature, about trees. “One type of tree that spreads out its roots all over the place; a pretty isolated tree and when the wind blows hard, it just topples right over and those roots just pull right out of the ground. The Ponderosa tree can grow into huge trees. I mean, they’re great. They have a central root system that goes way down, those are amazingly strong. But if you get enough of a wind, super strong in like in a supercell or something like that, downdraft, it snaps them right off at about 20 feet up. So that’s who we are. We are the stubborn guys. And we think we can handle anything. But then life throws us a real curveball and like a strong wind and we snap.” Ron went on and said, “The third tree is the Redwood in California. They respond to the strong winds by intertwining their roots. They all depend on each other when the wind blows to keep themselves from toppling over. They’re like 2,000-3,000 years old. They figured it out.” He was just talking about how we all need each other, need encouraging people. “We need to find our community whether it’s coffee group, sewing group, or church group or whatever, don’t be afraid to just get involved. And be part of a community because we all need each other.”
Ron also wanted to express his heartfelt gratitude to Karma Hale for preparing the delicious meal for the event. There was pulled pork, baked beans, potato salad, and a variety of chips. He also believes he made an oversight by not thanking the numerous volunteers who made it for a wonderful evening. Their contributions were invaluable and greatly appreciated.
